Tuesday, February 25, 2014

New Arrival: Lumedoll Atik

I've been admiring Lumedoll's line for years - they are a single artist operation out of Florida and offer some really distinct sculpts. For a long time they only had three resin colour options, but last year that number doubled. And they added a new set of 43cm dolls and sculpts. And then there was a brief sale over New Year's and I found I couldn't resist any longer, and I placed my order for the Atik sculpt on the male body, in ebony resin. And then just in time for my birthday, he arrived!

My first impressions were twofold - he's gorgeous, and he's tiny! I knew that at 43cm he'd be at the shorter end of the mini range, but he's also extremely slender, so in a lot of ways he has the body of a large fashion doll. He also has the smallest head of any of my dolls (including the tinies!), so he's going to have to stay bald for a while - luckily it suits him!

The packaging was interesting; Instead of a box, he game in a bag.

You can see the Lumedoll logo on the bag.

I was a little concerned for his safety when I saw the bag inside the shipper box, but there was enough padding on both sides (foam bits inside the shipper and bubble wrap inside the bag) that he appears to have been 100% secure.

The bag itself is a nice heavy material, and is approximately the size and style of a wine bag. I'd assumed this style of packing would make him easy to unwrap, but that knot at the top was actually tight enough to be a challenge!

As for the doll himself, his face sculpt is delightfully detailed with plenty of character. I ordered him with a faceup, and they (I should probably say "she", since we are talking a one-woman operation, shouldn't I?) did a fantastic job on his eyebrows and lips. The body is also delightfully detailed - his torso reminds me of the bodies of marathon runners.

Look how modest he is!

The joint engineering is functional, and he can stand on his own, although I wouldn't want to have him standing and then walk away from him. He's definitely one to display on a stand. His resin is also lovely, with a good weight to it and solid, even colouring. He does have noticeable seam lines (in particular on his hands), but that's to be expected on a non-sanded doll.

In character terms, I think he works with a variety of options: I have a couple of ideas, but am still on the fence. My original plan was to call him Xolani, but now that he's here I'm thinking he might be more of a Geoffrey. But we'll see how I feel once he has hair (if he even needs hair - I'm on the fence about that now as well!).

Finally, let me share a shot of him with my other mini-range dolls (with apologies for the lighting). The 50cm guys tower over him, and while the standard minis are clearer of different proportions with their heads being easily 3x the size. The Iplehouse JID is probably closest in size, but still has a head that's a good size larger and a body that's a good 50% broader.